I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Abyss by Nicholas Binge Published by Tor Nightfire on May 12 2026
Genres: Adult, Horror
Pages: 160
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: Nicholas Binge combines cosmic horror with biting commentary on big corporations in this short and entertaining novella.
Nicholas Binge is such a good writer, and Abyss was a fun, mind-bending story with some Lovecraftian horror elements, hence the tentacled creature on the cover. It’s also a cautionary tale of corporate greed and how big companies devour their employees, and although I’m sometimes hesitant to read books with heavy social commentary, this time it really worked for me.
Joe is a twenty-something man who has just been hired by a company called Ponos. When he arrives on his first day of work, the building—an austere black concrete block—appears to be empty. There’s no one to greet him in the lobby, and things only get weirder from there. When Joe finally connects with someone, a harried man named Virgil, he’s instructed to log in to his computer and complete a list of daily tasks, one of which includes checking in throughout the day with an AI program called WellBot.
As Joe makes his way through the seemingly empty office (trying to find printer paper for one of his tasks), he stumbles upon random workers doing impossibly odd things. WellBot won’t leave him alone, and Virgil keeps giving him cryptic messages that make no sense at all. Something dark and evil lives in the basement of Ponos, and it’s up to Joe to stop it—before he loses himself forever.
Binge does a great job of creating tension right from the beginning. From the looming Ponos building to the empty offices, Joe is way out of his comfort zone and must dig deep to figure out how to even get out of the building. I loved the sense of unease that just keeps growing as the things Joe encounters become more and more menacing. The horror lurking deep in Ponos is a cosmic nightmare, and the author even comes up with a plausible reason and backstory for its existence. Expect some body horror, although most of the unsettling moments are more psychological in nature.
Joe represents your typical twenty-something worker, struggling to stay afloat in today’s economy and finding comfort and escape in social media instead. Joe spends hours a day watching YouTube videos (when he can’t sleep) and doom scrolling the rest of the time. His phone is his lifeline and companion, so when he starts his job and loses his phone at one point, his life is thrown into chaos. We all know the downfalls of social media and constant cell phone usage, but I liked the way the author used it here, to show how Joe has become isolated from so many people in his life, especially his beloved mum. Lucky for Joe, the events at Ponos become so extreme that they shock him back into awareness.
My favorite theme, though, was the idea of how big corporations suck their employees dry (literally in some cases!). Binge satirizes these companies in so many ways, like the motivational posters plastered all over Ponos’s walls (“client focused” and “productivity” are big buzzwords for them), and even though productivity is up and employees are working harder than ever (as Joe finds out when he runs into one such employee), their lives haven’t improved at all. In fact, they are much worse. And I have to mention that I was curious about the name “Ponos” and looked it up. If you’re a fan of Greek mythology you’ll already know who it is, but let’s just say it’s a nice little Easter egg that makes the story even better.
Things turn even weirder when Virgil enlists Joe to save the day and stop the horrors deep inside Ponos. I loved the mind-bending climax and the way Binge gives readers a nice, emotional ending.
If you haven’t read Nicholas Binge yet, Abyss is a great place to start!
Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.
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